Out of the blue I receive an email from my agent, asking if I would be interested in appearing on Strictly Come Dancing. I am a huge fan of the show but my initial reaction is, “I can’t go back to all that”. I gave up acting when my daughter Lucy was born in 1995 and changed career to stay at home. Despite running a property company and writing newspaper columns and books, I have been low profile since then.

Friday, May 24

My family have persuaded me to consider it! Initial meeting with the producers of Strictly at the new BBC HQ seems to go very well.

The summer has been amazing but I assume I have been dropped… Suddenly, I get the phone call that I’m in the final cut! Sitting in the garden, I feel very hot and afterwards very strange. Calm, slightly bemused, as I didn’t think I was in. Don’t scream or dance around the garden. Go into kitchen and just stand there. In shock. Meet husband Neil in London and tell him the news. He is thrilled.

Friday, August 2

Wake up in a hotel in London with Neil and start wriggling with delight. Yeeeesss! It hits me now and the reality kicks in. I’m doing Strictly, my favourite show. I’m flying. Neil drives us home and I have quiet thoughts. Get phone call from my agent who says that the BBC is besieged by enquiries from the press and they would like to drop my name first to a Sunday paper. I say OK. Agent is delighted.

Sunday, August 4

It’s in the paper with confirmation from the BBC that I’m the first one to be signed! Ha! (This is not true as we were all confirmed on the same day.) Go for another power walk and Archie (my Jack Russell) tags along.

Wednesday, August 7

Several friends have now been in touch. (Mixed reactions, if I’m honest.) To London for a voice-over and pop in unannounced to my agent’s office with champagne and chocolates for the girls, who are so excited. Seems that the business is so tough right now that Strictly is a little ray of sunshine in their lives – in all our lives. The BBC has given me a code name. I am Ms France! Hilarious. Agent then sends me emails saying, “This is Great Britain calling France.” I am signed to Storm Management. This is a dream. I’m 56 and in the same agency as Kate Moss?

Thursday, August 8

Train to London for a medical examination set up by the BBC. The doctor checks my reflexes and has a look in my ears and takes blood pressure and that’s it. To Elstree Studios, which is where Strictly will be filmed. I spend two hours being squeezed into dazzling frocks by the wonderful Vicky Gill, head designer. This is so that she can see what works on me and what doesn’t. All my dresses will be made from scratch. Can’t believe I’m standing there in fishnet tights and dance shoes being handed every little girl’s dream. I look a bit fat in some of them, which is depressing as I’ve just lost so much weight. Resolve to do something about my bingo wings.

Tuesday, August 13

Researcher calls from the Strictly office to prepare for the little “Profile” films that are shown on the launch show. Asks good questions, such as “What do you fear most?” (Going out first.) “What do you hope to gain from this experience?” Well, I’m not going back into showbiz, that’s for sure. I just want the adventure, the challenge and the weight loss!

Friday, August 16

The contract arrives and, as you would expect, it is very well constructed. Although it turns out scuba-diving is out and I can’t go parachute jumping out of planes! Aw, shucks. The main horror is that we only get two tickets per show.

Thursday, August 22

My first proper Strictly day! Hooray! A huge people-carrier takes me to Elstree Studios for 9am and is instructed to take me to a little alley. (We are going to film the “profile” inserts.) The show is still shrouded in secrecy – it’s currently called Memory Lane! Another celebrity has been filmed already (code name Tanzania) and at one point our paths nearly cross. Doors are flung shut and I am flattened against the corridor wall. I pretend to peek and we all laugh. Even the glazed parts of the doors have paper over them. Despite rumours in the media, we don’t know who the other celebrities are. Once in the darkened studio I see the promo set, consisting of rails of beaded gowns and mirrors with hundreds of bulbs. The best bit was throwing silver glitter in the air/blowing glitter off my hand/playing with a huge glitter ball. These will be four-second teasers. I was then asked to do the classic James Bond my-fingers-are-a-gun pose and turn to camera to take aim. Seems being a Bond girl has been my passport to Strictly.

Wednesday, August 28

Today we shoot the TV trailers for the show in a studio in Ealing. I’m collected by a Mercedes with blacked-out windows and am beyond excited. The next three hours are a heady mix of make-up, false hair, false eyelashes and my first costume fitting in a dress that has been made for me. It is incredible. A dream of black beaded lace over sheer panels and a deep V encrusted with crystals. I meet Sophie Ellis-Bextor (extraordinarily pretty) and Deborah Meaden and realise, alarmingly, that I am the oldest female on the show.

Friday, August 30

We film the “reveal” when the pro dancers come in and see the celebrities for the first time. This involves placing a huge glitter ball in front of our faces and lowering it at the right time. We then start to learn the choreography of our group dance but the speed seems impossible. They show us WHAT to do but not HOW to do it. I start to panic. My fitness is NIL and I just want to die. After a couple of hours my face is tomato red and I can hardly breathe.

Saturday, August 31

More dancing, but this time we go through the routine really slowly, breaking it down. It starts to sink in but I feel under-confident. There are nine TV cameras pointing at us. There are lots of BBC execs watching today, presumably trying to assess whether they have spent their money wisely. In a break we are all chatting about the judges and I ask how old Len Goodman is. Brendan says “about 70” and I say, in mock horror, “Oh my god. He’s younger than me?” There is a stunned silence. Abbey says, “No way.”

Tuesday, September 3

Elstree. I see the Strictly set for the first time and it is huge, much bigger than before. It has a glittering 1920s Gatsby vibe. We rehearse the walk-down and introductions and then the group dance, all for the launch show. Chaos! We are then properly “Strictlyfied” in the make-up and hair department! This is their term for the whole nine yards of extra hair, false eyelashes and body shimmer. (No spray tan yet.) The atmosphere in the make-up room is great fun and when Anton du Beke walks in, he ups the hilarity level. I adore him and really want him as my dance partner. We record the Red Carpet bit of the launch show, rising up through the stage on a hydraulic lift, with smoke machines and fireworks. I feel like a rock star. The crowd goes berserk.

Wednesday, September 4

Oh God. It’s finally here. The BIG day of the launch show. Rehearse group dance with the band. We are dancing to Melba Moore’s This Is It, which is scarily fast. It is 30 degrees outside and I am melting. My costume is shortened. My mother and daughter arrive and once in their seats cannot move for six hours. The recording starts and the main thrust is “who is dancing with whom”? I get Anton! I am so delighted, I think it shows. We run up to Tess’s Lair and I think, “This is unreal. I’m running up these stairs just like I’ve seen them do for so many years.” We finish the recording and then meet the press for two hours. Bed at 1am.

Tuesday, September 10

My first proper day of training with Anton. We are in a studio not far from where I live. He tells me we are starting with the tango. Are you kidding? He teaches me the basic steps and says it is all about learning to “walk forwards and backwards” with the right posture. I stand up like he wants me to, until it hurts. We laugh a lot.

Friday, September 13

Only fourth day of training and the muscles in my back are agony. Anton starts on the choreography in small chunks and as soon as we start on the next bit, I forget the first bit. I start to panic. We go over the dance until it sticks in my mind. When we do it to music, I fall apart because it’s so fast. Anton is very reassuring.

Tuesday, September 17

We have a film crew with us every day during training, so I have to watch my language. I have been calling Anton “Mr Wonderful”, which the crew seems to like, and have decided to embrace the whole Strictly ethos, which involves a lot of cheese. Anton rolls his eyes. I yell “Dolcelatte” a lot. After doing the Tango appallingly, we switch to the cha cha, which I absolutely love. Maybe I’m going to be more a Latin girl than ballroom.

Wednesday, September 18

Discover Anton used to be a furniture salesman! Ha! Sorry girls. Kind of spoils the glamour. It Takes Two films us “behind the scenes”. Anton is wearing trousers by Tom Ford, a Turnbull & Asser shirt and Lanvin sweater. I am in M&S.

Friday, September 20

Whole day of photos for a woman’s magazine and a newspaper supplement. (I feel robbed of training.) It involves all the girls in the show but I am the only one to do both. Feeling quite chuffed. One shot involves feather fans and nought else!

Tuesday, September 24

Tenth day of training. Show day is approaching so Anton is upping the pressure. We go into detail but my body is not co-operating. My back is unbearable and I feel really old. Anxiety kicks in and he gives me some tips about “going live”. Basically, don’t watch anyone else!

Thursday, September 26

On set the day before live show. Rehearse number for the first time in front of everyone. Beyond awful. (I start on a bar but keep sliding off!) Find out I’m dancing on Saturday night (hooray) but we all appear on Friday’s show. See my costume for the first time. It is long, red and gorgeous. It is great to see everyone again, especially Deborah who is also doing a tango, so we can groan together. Secretly can’t wait for the show. Time for my spray tan!